An individual for various reasons may be unable to bend to insert feet and legs into and through the leg openings of undergarments and pants or through a skirt, pull the garment into proper, comfortable position, and fasten the waist band of the garment. The inability to accomplish this seemingly simple, but very necessary task may be the result of temporary or permanent, limited flexibility of the lower back or knees.
For many elderly individuals, as well as others suffering from certain diseases and injuries, including an increasingly young population of injured military personnel, except for the physical challenges associated with lost flexibility in the back and knees and certain losses of mobility associated with such losses that are beyond the scope of this invention, a major need for assistance is in dressing. Devices to respond to this need are recognized as making a significant contribution to an individual's independence.
A wide variety of devices have been developed to assist physically challenged individuals in their daily lives. Dramatic improvements in wheel chairs and related mobility devices are well known, and beyond the scope of this invention. Devices that are variously described or otherwise classified as “reachers” certainly must be considered in view of the current invention.
Reachers commonly comprise a shaft of varying length with some type of “jaws” at one end that are operated by a manual trigger device at the other, handle end. Such devices are used effectively to retrieve items from the floor, tables, or shelves, and have been modified to assist an individual in putting on socks and shoes. Dressing aids, including the modified reachers noted above, have been developed for a variety of specific uses: long-handled shoe horns to help those that cannot easily bend from the waist; plastic sleeves to assist in putting on socks and stockings, frequently such devices includes a “pull-stick” to move the sock/stocking into position once it is positioned over the foot and ankle. Dressing sticks comprising a stiff shaft and soft “hook” at the opposite end of the grip area are used by some to help pull-up pants legs. Examples of a comprehensive array of dressing aids that are commercially available may be viewed by visiting www.sampsonspreston.com, or by examining the Sampsons Preston catalog.
Certain dressing aids and predecessor technology are the object of United States patents. Among early art is a “grab-stick,” a shaft with pull action jaws to pick-up litter and a forerunner to “reachers” issued as U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,512 to Harold Baughman on Feb. 10, 1976. Also see U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,889 for a multipurpose dressing rod and reacher issued Nov. 18, 1997 to Douglas T. Liden.
Several patents involve technology specifically focused on putting socks or stockings on. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,604 issued Sep. 14, 1971 to Albert D. Ahn and U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,156 issued Jan. 14, 1975 to Ralph Lawrence.
In some instances, multiple uses are suggested as in the “shoe horn and cane” apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,316 issued to Curtis L. George and Sandra L. George on Oct. 30, 1990. In other instances the use is very specific, such as the “body sleeve” of U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,491 issued to Sylvia N. Emory on Apr. 4, 2004 which is worn around the torso and attaches to undergarments and helps the individual don the undergarment then is unfastened and removed from the body.
Some commercially available technology is seemingly ultra-simple, such as the pair of used to join and hold an upper garment to a lower garment when dressing and fastening buttons and the like.
There remains room in the art for a device that will assist an individual with limited flexibility of the lower back or knees to don undergarments, pants or a skirt starting from a semi-reclining, sitting, or standing position.